Catch-up Part 1 - Before I Left
Celebrity Death Watch - May / June: Lee Lawson was a soap opera actress. Andy Fletcher played keyboards for Depeche Mode. Ray Liotta was an amor whose movies included Something Wild and Field of Dreams. Alan White played drums for Yes. Ronnie Hawkins was a Canadian singer-songwriter. Joel Moses was a computer science professor at MIT and responsible for Macsyma, which was an early symbolic manipulation program. Lester Pigott was an English jockey. Paul Vance wrote “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini,” among other songs. Barry Sussman was an editor at the Washington Post and oversaw much of the Watergate coverage. Ann Truner Cook was the model for the Gerber baby. Alec John Such played bass for Bon Jovi. Jim Seals was half of soft rock duo Seals and Croft. Ronan Lurie was a political cartoonist, primarily for news magazines (e.g. Life, Newsweek, US News and World Report). Joel Whitburn was a music historian, who published books on record charts. Arnold Skolnik designed the poster for Woodstock. Anita Ekstrom was a Swedish actress. Clella Rorex issued the first same-sex marriage license in the U.S. (in Boulder, Colorado). Brett Tuggle played keyboards for Fleetwood Mac. James Rado co-wrote Hair. Bruce Katz co-founded Rockport Shoes. Sonny Barger cofounded Hell’s Angels.
Derva Murphy was one of my favorite travel writers. She was best known for Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle. I’ve also read several of her books about her travels in Africa.
Baxter Black was a cowboy poet and storyteller, who was frequently heard on National Public Radio. As everyone who listened to him knew, he was also a large animal veterinarian. His voice was uniquely American and always interesting.
Deborah James was an English journalist, best known for writing about her struggle with bowel cancer. She earned me 9 ghoul pool points.
Celebrity Death Watch - July / August: Susie Steiner wrote crime novels. Robert Curl was a chemist who won the Nobel Prize for the discovery of buckminsterfullerene. Tony Sirico was an actor who played a number of gangster roles. Luis Echeveria was the president of Mexico in the 1970’s. Shinzo Abe was the prime minister of Japan from 2012-2020 and was shockingly assassinated. Nelson Pincer was a civil rights activist. Gerald McEntee was the president of AFSCME for 30+ years. Monty Norman wrote the James Bond Theme and contributed English lyrics to the musical Irma La Douce. Sean Kelly wrote for National Lampoon. David Dalton was a founding editor of Rolling Stone magazine. Ivana Trump was a serial courtesan, whose most notorious marriage was to Donald Trump. Matt King co-founded Meow Wolf. William Hart sang with The Delfonics. Delia Giovanola cofounded the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo which kept attention on the children of mothers who were disappeared from Argentine prisons during the junta of the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. Taurean Blaque was an actor, best known for playing Detective Neal Washington on Hill Street Blues. Stuart Woods was a novelist. Dwight Smith played outfield, primarily for the Chicago Cubs. Bob Rafelson directed movies, including Five Easy Pieces. Diane Hegarty co-founded the Church of Satan. Tim Giago founded the Native American Journalists Association. Paul Sorvino was an actor who played both cops and robbers. Burt Metcalfe was an actor and television producer, best known for producing seasons 6 through 11 of M*A*S*H. Tony Dow played Wally on Leave It to Beaver. Archie Roach was an Australian musician and indigenous activist. Pat Carroll was an actress who is probably best known as the voice of Ursula in The Little Mermaid, but also dd a lot of work in early television and won several awards for her one-woman show about Gertrude Stein. Ayman al-Zawahiri led al-Qaeda since 2011. Mo Astin was an executive for Warner Records. Fidel Ramos succeeded Corazon Aquino as president of the Phillippines. Melissa Bank wrote the novel, The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing. Richard Tait co-invented the game Cranium.
James Caan was an actor who played a number of significant roles, including Brian Piccolo in Brian’s Song, Sonny Corleone in The Godfather, Billy Rose in Funny Lady, and Paul Sheldon in Misery among others.
Larry Storch starred in F-Troop, a TV show I remember liking a lot when I was a child.
Claes Oldenburg was a sculptor, known for his giant versions of everyday objects. I first encountered his work when I saw Lipstick on Caterpillar Treads on the Yale campus when I was touring colleges. Coincidentally, the person I stayed with when I visited MIT a few weeks later took me to see a short documentary about him. His work is instantly recognizable. I particularly love the giant badminton shuttlecocks outside the Nelson Atkins Museum in Kansas City.
Diana Kennedy was a food writer who wrote the definitive cookbooks on Mexican cuisine.
James Lovelock was an environmentalist who was best known for the Gaia Hypothesis, which has to do with the interconnections between living things and surroundings. He earned me 23 ghoul pool points (11 for place on list, plus 12 for uniqueness).
Mick Moloney was a musician and folklorist. He influenced pretty much every modern Celtic musician. He also played a major role in promoting women in traditional Irish music.
Nichelle Nichols played Lieutenant Uhura on Star Trek. She went on to promote hiring of women and ethnic minorities for NASA.
Bill Russell was the center for the Boston Celtics for several years, leading them to 11 NBA championships. He became the first black superstar in the NBA. He was also a civil rights activist and was awarded the Presidential Medal of of Freedom for his accomplishments.
Vin Scully was the voice of the Dodgers, both in Brooklyn and Los Angeles. He spent 67 years as their play-by play announcer, which was the longest of any broadcaster in a major sport-
Non-celebrity Death Watch: I knew Mark Early from storytelling. In particular, he had organized a liar’s contest out in the Roanoke area that I participated in years ago. Cancer sucks.
Non-human Death Watch: The very last Howard Johnson’s restaurant closed. (I believe there are a handful of HoJo branded motels left). HoJo was an institution in my childhood, primarily for ice cream. We also stopped there regularly on the handful of long driving trips we took. I suspect that they were another victim of the rise of fast food / drive-through culture, as well as changes in how chains operate with the growth of franchising and so on. I feel old.
Beyond Barbarella - Science Fiction Storytelling by Women: I was part of a science fiction storytelling show, along with five other women. This is very much not the sort of thing I normally do, which was part of the reason for doing it. Namely, it is good to stretch my creative muscles. I came up with an idea bout what I called “The Auntie Brigade,” which relies on a group of women whose role is to indoctrinate the children of a space colony with earth culture. The other important aspect of this was that the colony (Planet Sophia) was made up of women, with contact with men limited to brief periods for breeding purposes. The story went over reasonably well, though I think I was too focused on world building and not enough on an actual plot. Still, it’s something I can play with in the future.
There was also a little weirdness related to how the backgrounds between stories were handled. The story before mine was prerecorded, but there was a lag between the YouTube lifestream and the Zoom feed I was performing on, which made it a little hard to figure out exactly when I was supposed to start telling. When I looked at the recording, it all looked much smoother than it felt for me. As I said, it’s good to do things that are something of a stretch.
Capital Fringe - I’m Just Doing My Job: I went to see this fringe show because it was being done by Diana Veiga, who is part of our local storytelling community. Some of the stories were about various jobs she’s had, including working at a strip club (not as a stripper), being a personal assistant, working for the girl scouts (with a notable camping episode and an even more notable car theft), and working at “the libury” (vs. the library). In between, there were stories about other aspects of her life as a black woman, including a piece about helping her best friend give birth. It was funny and moving and well worth seeing.
Capital Fringe - This is Cabaret: The only other fringe show I made it to this year was this showcase by the DC Cabaret Network. (Normally I go to at least 6 fringe hows, but my calendar was crazy and there were also fewer shows to choose from.) All 7 performers were good and the selections included several standards, e.g. Maureen Kerrigan’s performance of the Sondheim song “I’m Still Here.” I particularly liked Heather Frank’s two original songs, especially “Her Majesty Regrets” and I hope she makes her material available on YouTube in the future. This was a thoroughly delightful show and I will keep my eyes open for other performances from this organization.
Global Entry: The other thing I accomplished before leaving on my trips was finally doing my global entry renewal application. I had screwed up here and not carefully read the email from some moths ago that offered to extend my enrollment. What I’d missed was that I had to do the renewal application before my enrollment expired (which was back in September). Anyway, I got through doing the application part, but I am still waiting for an interview. (I have an appointment for early November, but am hoping to get something earlier. If I do any international travel before then, I can do enrollment on arrival.)
Derva Murphy was one of my favorite travel writers. She was best known for Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle. I’ve also read several of her books about her travels in Africa.
Baxter Black was a cowboy poet and storyteller, who was frequently heard on National Public Radio. As everyone who listened to him knew, he was also a large animal veterinarian. His voice was uniquely American and always interesting.
Deborah James was an English journalist, best known for writing about her struggle with bowel cancer. She earned me 9 ghoul pool points.
Celebrity Death Watch - July / August: Susie Steiner wrote crime novels. Robert Curl was a chemist who won the Nobel Prize for the discovery of buckminsterfullerene. Tony Sirico was an actor who played a number of gangster roles. Luis Echeveria was the president of Mexico in the 1970’s. Shinzo Abe was the prime minister of Japan from 2012-2020 and was shockingly assassinated. Nelson Pincer was a civil rights activist. Gerald McEntee was the president of AFSCME for 30+ years. Monty Norman wrote the James Bond Theme and contributed English lyrics to the musical Irma La Douce. Sean Kelly wrote for National Lampoon. David Dalton was a founding editor of Rolling Stone magazine. Ivana Trump was a serial courtesan, whose most notorious marriage was to Donald Trump. Matt King co-founded Meow Wolf. William Hart sang with The Delfonics. Delia Giovanola cofounded the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo which kept attention on the children of mothers who were disappeared from Argentine prisons during the junta of the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. Taurean Blaque was an actor, best known for playing Detective Neal Washington on Hill Street Blues. Stuart Woods was a novelist. Dwight Smith played outfield, primarily for the Chicago Cubs. Bob Rafelson directed movies, including Five Easy Pieces. Diane Hegarty co-founded the Church of Satan. Tim Giago founded the Native American Journalists Association. Paul Sorvino was an actor who played both cops and robbers. Burt Metcalfe was an actor and television producer, best known for producing seasons 6 through 11 of M*A*S*H. Tony Dow played Wally on Leave It to Beaver. Archie Roach was an Australian musician and indigenous activist. Pat Carroll was an actress who is probably best known as the voice of Ursula in The Little Mermaid, but also dd a lot of work in early television and won several awards for her one-woman show about Gertrude Stein. Ayman al-Zawahiri led al-Qaeda since 2011. Mo Astin was an executive for Warner Records. Fidel Ramos succeeded Corazon Aquino as president of the Phillippines. Melissa Bank wrote the novel, The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing. Richard Tait co-invented the game Cranium.
James Caan was an actor who played a number of significant roles, including Brian Piccolo in Brian’s Song, Sonny Corleone in The Godfather, Billy Rose in Funny Lady, and Paul Sheldon in Misery among others.
Larry Storch starred in F-Troop, a TV show I remember liking a lot when I was a child.
Claes Oldenburg was a sculptor, known for his giant versions of everyday objects. I first encountered his work when I saw Lipstick on Caterpillar Treads on the Yale campus when I was touring colleges. Coincidentally, the person I stayed with when I visited MIT a few weeks later took me to see a short documentary about him. His work is instantly recognizable. I particularly love the giant badminton shuttlecocks outside the Nelson Atkins Museum in Kansas City.
Diana Kennedy was a food writer who wrote the definitive cookbooks on Mexican cuisine.
James Lovelock was an environmentalist who was best known for the Gaia Hypothesis, which has to do with the interconnections between living things and surroundings. He earned me 23 ghoul pool points (11 for place on list, plus 12 for uniqueness).
Mick Moloney was a musician and folklorist. He influenced pretty much every modern Celtic musician. He also played a major role in promoting women in traditional Irish music.
Nichelle Nichols played Lieutenant Uhura on Star Trek. She went on to promote hiring of women and ethnic minorities for NASA.
Bill Russell was the center for the Boston Celtics for several years, leading them to 11 NBA championships. He became the first black superstar in the NBA. He was also a civil rights activist and was awarded the Presidential Medal of of Freedom for his accomplishments.
Vin Scully was the voice of the Dodgers, both in Brooklyn and Los Angeles. He spent 67 years as their play-by play announcer, which was the longest of any broadcaster in a major sport-
Non-celebrity Death Watch: I knew Mark Early from storytelling. In particular, he had organized a liar’s contest out in the Roanoke area that I participated in years ago. Cancer sucks.
Non-human Death Watch: The very last Howard Johnson’s restaurant closed. (I believe there are a handful of HoJo branded motels left). HoJo was an institution in my childhood, primarily for ice cream. We also stopped there regularly on the handful of long driving trips we took. I suspect that they were another victim of the rise of fast food / drive-through culture, as well as changes in how chains operate with the growth of franchising and so on. I feel old.
Beyond Barbarella - Science Fiction Storytelling by Women: I was part of a science fiction storytelling show, along with five other women. This is very much not the sort of thing I normally do, which was part of the reason for doing it. Namely, it is good to stretch my creative muscles. I came up with an idea bout what I called “The Auntie Brigade,” which relies on a group of women whose role is to indoctrinate the children of a space colony with earth culture. The other important aspect of this was that the colony (Planet Sophia) was made up of women, with contact with men limited to brief periods for breeding purposes. The story went over reasonably well, though I think I was too focused on world building and not enough on an actual plot. Still, it’s something I can play with in the future.
There was also a little weirdness related to how the backgrounds between stories were handled. The story before mine was prerecorded, but there was a lag between the YouTube lifestream and the Zoom feed I was performing on, which made it a little hard to figure out exactly when I was supposed to start telling. When I looked at the recording, it all looked much smoother than it felt for me. As I said, it’s good to do things that are something of a stretch.
Capital Fringe - I’m Just Doing My Job: I went to see this fringe show because it was being done by Diana Veiga, who is part of our local storytelling community. Some of the stories were about various jobs she’s had, including working at a strip club (not as a stripper), being a personal assistant, working for the girl scouts (with a notable camping episode and an even more notable car theft), and working at “the libury” (vs. the library). In between, there were stories about other aspects of her life as a black woman, including a piece about helping her best friend give birth. It was funny and moving and well worth seeing.
Capital Fringe - This is Cabaret: The only other fringe show I made it to this year was this showcase by the DC Cabaret Network. (Normally I go to at least 6 fringe hows, but my calendar was crazy and there were also fewer shows to choose from.) All 7 performers were good and the selections included several standards, e.g. Maureen Kerrigan’s performance of the Sondheim song “I’m Still Here.” I particularly liked Heather Frank’s two original songs, especially “Her Majesty Regrets” and I hope she makes her material available on YouTube in the future. This was a thoroughly delightful show and I will keep my eyes open for other performances from this organization.
Global Entry: The other thing I accomplished before leaving on my trips was finally doing my global entry renewal application. I had screwed up here and not carefully read the email from some moths ago that offered to extend my enrollment. What I’d missed was that I had to do the renewal application before my enrollment expired (which was back in September). Anyway, I got through doing the application part, but I am still waiting for an interview. (I have an appointment for early November, but am hoping to get something earlier. If I do any international travel before then, I can do enrollment on arrival.)